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A module that I need to run a script identically via SSH on all hosts via 'perl -I ~/lib/perl ' command will have to be 5.005_03 compliant, sadly.Solaris / SunOS 5.8 aka 8 is still widely deployed and supported, even though Solaris 9 and 10 are out there. Sun provides/usr/bin/perl 5.005_03. [On these systems, we set "alias" for perl56 and perl58 to our locally built perl's - installed if the app uses them.]

Applications can bring their own copy of perl with them (with DBI bindings or other XS modules), but

> I had just started to write Perl in March 1999. If Sun wants tosupport an eight-and-a-half-years-old versions of Perl, talk to them about updates. Presumably you're paying them $$$ for a reason.>> Honestly, sysadmins are as much the problem here as anything.You really should get out more often.

Many environments/setups demand/require/dictate stable software installations. (Yes, I'm aware of my.sig line.) And this has often nothing to do with anyone in particular being lazy and/or resistant to

You just CANNOT go around upgrading components since that may have grave consequences in other parts of the environment.

... except, apparently, for my CPAN modules, as evidenced by all of the pissing and moaning about how I'm so irresponsible, so inexperienced, and such a misanthropic bad person because I don't care that new code doesn't run on versions of Perl released last millennium.

That's the part I don't get. If you don't upgrade software, why complain that the software you're not going to upgra

as evidenced by all of the pissing and moaning about how I'm so irresponsible, so inexperienced, and such a misanthropic bad person because I don't care that new code doesn't run on versions of Perl released last millennium.

I believe we agree'd a while back that the correct word was "selfish".:)

And you are, but this isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Certainly, for new modules there's really not that big a deal with whatever minimum version you want.

The problem comes from the big rule of legacy support "Don't break stuff that works".

What gets people annoyed is when something CURRENTLY works on 5.005 or whatever, and then the module gets updated to more modern practices (when these changes are NOT required to fix a critical bug) and suddenly stops working for what they see as no good reason.

This is, of course, compounded by people that use modules as a dependency and target similarly old versions of Perl themselves, only to find their minimum version is now bumped up as well by a dependency or a dependency of theirs.

What gets people annoyed is when something CURRENTLY works on 5.005 or whatever, and then the module gets updated to more modern practices (when these changes are NOT required to fix a critical bug) and suddenly stops working for what they see as no good reason.

Some of those modern practices have really solid reasonings behind them, such as lexical warnings and lexical filehandles.

Again, I ask you, why do you think that people who haven't updated Perl to a version released in the past eight and a half

Either it is a potential for a lucrative business or just a lot of noise. If the former, I'll happily create a frozen+backports CPAN and start billing subscribers (in thousands per month) and paying porters (in hundreds per hour.)

If it's just a lot of noise (which seems likely since a frozen index would be rather trivial to create), then I fail to see how it contributes to Perl, CPAN, or the community.

It might be free software, but it is still a market economy. You either solve the problem yourself, f

You either solve the problem yourself, form a group which mutually benefits from the solution, or write a check to someone who solves it for you.

All of those options are fine with me. Complaining when someone who works on this as a hobby and who doesn't share your goal of enabling people to do something he considers stupid and risky and expecting him to do your paid work for you is not okay.